Gentle Flames
by Imaginationqueen87
Summary: Something is wrong with Fizz so everyone in the Dojo becomes focused on her. Burn starts to realize things that will change things in Dojo Deliveries, but for better or worse is yet to be seen
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own Get Ed

**Gentle Flames**

Fizz sighed, the rest were laughing and having a good time, but she had a headache. It was usually rare that she had a headache, but this was her forth in four days and Ol'Skool was concerned.

"Could you keep it down?" Fizz asked

"Another headache?" Deets asked. She was worried herself but there wasn't much she could do.

Fizz went into her room and Burn didn't seem to notice

"Burn aren't you the slightest bit worried about Fizz?" she demanded.

"What do you mean?" Burn asked.

"Other than the fact that this is the fourth time she's had a headache in four days, you're usually concerned when any of us go to bed during the day! Besides she's been nausious off and on for the last few days"

The gong called the curriers for their next job and even Fizz came, but Deets noticed that her neck was stiff and she seemed tired. Burn also noticed these things.

'Deets was right, something is wrong with Fizz' Burn thought

It was in the middle of the drop that Burn really got worried.

'I'm definatly checking these symptoms when we get back to the dojo' he thought.

They got back to the dojo and Burn began to look up the symptoms and was stunned by what he read.

"Meningitis" he read "the symptoms match"

Deets looked over Burn's shoulder.

"Hey, do you mind?" Burn demanded.

"Do you think that's what she has?"

"I'm hoping it isn't, but I can't keep in the fear that it is" Burn sighed.

"I'm going to get Ol'Skool"

"Get me for what?" Ol'Skool asked

"To look at this," Burn said.

"Why are we looking at this?"

"Because, as much as we don't want to think aboutit, we think Fizz may have this." Burn said

"I'm going to check on her", Ol'Skool said.

He soon found her in her workshop, but she looked like she belonged in bed, her face was flushed and she was holding onto the table for support because she was dizzy.

"Fizz, come here!" he commanded.

"Yes, Ol'Skool" she walked over to him and he checked her forehead.

"Go to bed now!" he said, "I'll be in there in a minute."

Fizz left and Ol' Skool sighed.

'I fear Burn is right' he thought

Ol'Skool checked Fizz and found that she was running a high feaver, too hight, 104.3F

"I'm definatly calling the doctor for this one" he sighed.

The local doctor got there and checked Fizz.

"I want her taken to the Emergency Room, now!"

_To Be Continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

"You think this is that serious?"

"Yes, Ol'Skool, I do" the doctor replied.

Ol'Skool gathered the curriers and they all powered up and left, but they were one vehicle short.

"Burn, why wouldn't you let me take my sled?" Fizz asked

"Because I didn't think it was a good idea" Burn replied.

They were caught by the red light, and Fizz began to cough. He touched her hand to soothe her a bit and could feel the heat from her hand.

'Hang in there girl' he thought

* * *

"I wonder what has the Dojo out makin' a trip to the Emergency Room. One can only hope that the rumor is wrong, otherwise; they have got trouble on their hands." DJ Dive said.

* * *

"I didn't know you guys did free drops!" a voice said; then dark clad guys blocked off the couriers.

"Twilighters," Burn growled, "we don't have time for this shit!"

"Burn…" Ol'Skool said in a warning tone, "language!"

"Sorry, 'Skool, I'm just frustrated", Burn sighed

"Why don't you get your ugly mugs out of our way?" Deets demanded.

"You think you scare us?" one asked

"If you had half a brain you would move your sorry carcasses before I decide to do so myself!" Burn told them

The Twilighters didn't take his words seriously.

Burn revved the engine of his bike.

"You wouldn't ram us." Another said

"Do you want to put cred on that bet?" Burn asked "Fizz is sick and running a high fever, and if you don't move you're gonna get hurt!" The look in Burn's eyes said he wasn't kidding.

"So this isn't a drop?" a third guy said

"Give the guy a prize," Deets said sarcastically

"Hey Twilighter scum, why don't you crawl back into the sewer and leave the dojo curriers to their business." A voice called.

"Devon!" a girl said.

"I was just telling off some Twilighters"

"Oh, those scum bags!" she said.

"Who are you guys?" Ed asked.

"Starlight Couriers, at your service" the girl said "I'm Rose and this is Devon."

"Come on, follow us," Devon said.

"You don't know where we're going!" Deets said

"Emergency room, am I right?" Rose asked

"That's right, Rose," Ol'Skool said

"Come with us we know a short cut", Rose smiled

"Okay, our situation couldn't get any worse," Burn said as they started off.

"I wouldn't say that if I were you," Devon said, "those _are_ known as famous last words, you know."

"True," Burn said

"So how's the Dojo been since I left, Ol'Skool?" Rose asked

_To Be Continued…_


	3. Chapter 3

"Jenny?" Ol'Skool said in surprise

"Guilty!" Rose laughed awkwardly.

They arrived at the hospital.

"We have a 12 year old girl with a headache, stiff, sore neck and high fever." Rose explained to the attendant on duty.

"How did you know that?" Burn asked.

"I'm empathic, I could feel it," Rose said "my full currier name is Primrose."

Fizz was checked and rushed back as her fever had risen a bit to 105.2°F.

"I really hope she's going to be okay." Burn whispered

Rose sat with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. Hospitals weren't her favorite places due to all of the upset people.

"I need a quiet place," Rose said

"Rose-chan asu, anata ga imouto o iri masu (1)" Devon said

"Shiette imasu, demo muzukashi-i de masen (2)" Rose replied

"Jennifer Coleman?" a nurse said

"Nani(3)… oh, sorry… yes?" Rose said

"Come with us, Anthony, you need to come as well".

Rose and Ol'Skool went with the nurse.

"She needs a spinal tap, but she's refusing to allow us to perform the procedure"

"Can one of the other curriers come in and talk to her, I know they can help her a lot better than I could" Ol'Skool said

'That sounds like a good idea, I can feel her fear… she's afraid of the needle." Rose said

Ol'Skool went and got Burn; and he talked her into letting them perform the test.

"I hope this isn't what I think it is", Rose whispered after finding out all of Fizz's symptoms.

The test results would have to wait as Fizz started having a major seizure!

"Oh snap!" Burn backed up.

"Fizz" Rose was held back by Ol'Skool.

They soon got the seizure stopped but Fizz wasn't showing any signs of regaining consciousness and everyone feared the worst.

The results came back and everyone's fears were confirmed.

(POV Burn)

I watched as she lay in bed, it hurt me to see her this way, she was given a little help breathing, but other than that she just looked like she was asleep. No one could tell by looking that she was fighting for her life.

"Fizz," I sighed, "the dojo hasn't been the same since this happened to you. We're down in the rankings and everyone's sad" I sighed and looked at her small hand in contrast to mine and my heart wished that she would respond to me.

"Why, God, why her… she's has so much to look forward to" I wiped away a tear

(Third Person)

Burn looked over at Fizz's young form and he knew that this wasn't right and he wished there was some way he could change her situation… but he couldn't.

"Burn… it's time to go home" Ol'Skool said "you need to get some sleep"

"No, 'Skool, I want to stay with her… I know she doesn't know I'm here, but at least I can feel like she knows that I'm here"

"Burn, I know you want to stay but think about it we're down in the currier rankings and we need all the help we can get… and if you really think about it, you're no use to anybody if you're falling asleep on the job."

"Okay, okay… I'm coming" Burn groaned

Ol'Skool started out and Burn leaned over and gave Fizz a small kiss on the cheek before tucking her in a little better and leaving.

Days passed with little improvement and one day Fizz acknowledged Rose's touch but not her voice.

"Why won't she respond to sound?" Rose demanded

"Rose, we did some tests while she was still unconscious and this just supports what we thought happened… your sister is deaf"

To be continued…

A/n: these are the rough translations; please excuse me if my translations were wrong.

1. Rose you have to stay, your sister needs you.

2. I know, but it's hard for me to stay here

3. What?


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I know I haven't touched this story in a LONG time and I am so very sorry about this. I had it all written out in a notebook but then in the typing up somehow it veered off what I had in the book and writers block kind of took over from there. I am finally coming back to this story to finish it after WAY too long. Hope you enjoy this.

Btw there won't be much more Japanese unless someone volunteers to translate for me as I don't really trust machine translators to do the job as they are notoriously inaccurate. I translated the earlier Japanese from a book I had to return to the library years ago.

Final Author note long time fans of this particular fanfic will note that Jen/Rose's full name got changed that was due to an error on my part, it was originally "Jennette" but I didn't fully read chapter 3 before I started writing this chapter and thus mistakenly called her "Jennifer" and found that I liked that better and went back to change the name officially from "Jennette" to "Jennifer" just thought I would explain that little tidbit. If you are just reading this story for the first time then this doesn't mean much to you.

Now with that LONG WINDED author note out of the way, ON WITH THE FIC!

* * *

Jenny tried unsuccessfully to swallow back her tears, her sister was deaf.

"Is… is there any way to get her hearing back?" she asked, her voice cracking with emotion.

"We can put in cochlear implants when she wakes and recovers." The doctor said putting a hand on her shoulder. "I wish there was something I could say to make this situation better, Jen, but this is a bad situation."

"I know, thank you doctor." Jen said holding her sister's hand, tears rolling down her cheeks.

The doctor sighed and left the room as Ol'Skool entered; he had already been informed of the current situation and was working on arranging for the operation to be performed as soon as Fizz was up to it.

"Jennifer is there anything you want to talk to me about?" he asked calmly, his hands folded behind his back casually.

"She's deaf, Ol'Skool," Jen said through her tears. "I… I don't want to believe it, but it's true, she can't hear at all!" She was close to falling completely apart and Ol'Skool could hear it in her voice.

"Jennifer, I know you're upset, I am too, Felicia, she's like my baby girl, I hate to see this happen to her, but you know as well as I do the implants will do a world of good for her, and the new model implants give really close to natural hearing so she'll be able to stay with her team and do everything a normal girl can." Ol'Skool said he knew she was on the verge of breaking down and the truth would come flowing from there.

"Why?" Jen demanded tearfully as she placed her sister's hand back on the bed then turning to her former mentor "Why did it have to be her, why couldn't it have been me instead of her?! She's only twelve years old I'm older I could have handled this. She's too young to go deaf!"

That was the breaking point, Jen started to sob and Ol'Skool hugged her as she cried.

"I wish I knew the answers Jen." He whispered as she cried. He knew she wasn't the only one asking these tough questions, he was also wondering why Fizz was the one to contract this disease and why things went so wrong for her. He felt she deserved better than what she had just been handed, but he also realized that Fizz was young and was so very adaptable and he hoped that she could adapt to the new way of hearing quicker than some of the others.

Burn was outside in the hall and heard everything; it wasn't as if Ol'Skool hadn't already told him and the other Dojo couriers that Fizz had lost her hearing but it somehow seemed more damning to hear Jen crying out and demanding why this had happened to her baby sister. He sighed and shook his head this was hard for them to see, Jenny was taking things bad.

Burn remembered briefly working with Jenny and knew she wasn't one to go to pieces over just anything. She was a strong girl, a tomboy much like her little sister, although she seemed to have become more girly now than she was when she worked for Dojo. It seemed joining Starlight Couriers and surrounding herself with more girls had done some good for Jenny on that front, but right now none of that mattered. None of the changes Jenny made to herself could change her sister's situation.

Burn looked into the room but decided not to enter he knew Jenny wasn't doing well and it was best he kept away for the moment and let her mourn what her sister had lost. He looked up as a new wave of helplessness hit him, for all of his prowess as a warrior he could do nothing for the girl he cared so much for. He walked away feeling so very frustrated with himself and his lack of ability to help Fizz in her time of need. He got out of the hospital and got on his moto BMX and began to drive, he wasn't sure where he was going, all he knew was he needed to get away from the hospital.

It took a few minutes but the next thing Burn realized he was pulling into one of the various parks around Progress City. He got off his bike wondering why he ended up here of all places; it wasn't like there was anything here that could help Fizz. He sat down by a tree to think about what had just fallen into their laps. Fizz was deaf, sure but they could help her regain at least some of her hearing with implants, but his heart kept telling him this shouldn't have happened. He then began to wonder how Fizz even contracted the Meningitis in the first place, he knew very little about Meningitis and how it was contracted that this question had him stumped.

"Why?" he wondered "Jen's right, there is no reason this should have happened." Burn looked at the sky "but it did happen, now we need to find out what caused Fizz to get so sick and what, if anything, we can do to help her cope."

He got up to start to go back to the Dojo to research the disease and see if there was any way to track how Fizz contracted the Meningitis; then he stopped. It didn't matter how she got the disease, she had it and now she was on strong antibiotics to try and help her tiny body fight the infection.

"Burn" a voice called

To Be Continued…


	5. Chapter 5

Burn looked up to see Deets flying towards him.

"Burn, what's wrong?" she asked as she landed by him.

"Deets I feel so bad for Fizz." Burn sighed.

"We all do, Burn, but there is something else isn't there?" Deets pushed.

"Have you seen her in that hospital bed, Deets, really looked at her?"

"What do you mean?"

"She… she looks so small, so frail, she's never looked that way before."

"It's disturbing, isn't it; Fizz has always been so healthy until now." Deets shuttered.

"To say the least," Burn agreed with a sigh his back to the female courier who was only months his junior, "Deets, can I tell you something and you promise me you won't breathe a word of it to anyone?"

"I promise, Burn." Deets replied without a moment's hesitation. Burn needed to confide in someone at that moment and if it was her, so be it, she would keep his secret.

"Deets, I think… no… I know I love Fizz."

"We all care about her, Burn." Deets replied.

"Not the way I do." He replied looking up at the sky. "Ever since I met her, Deets I've known she was special."

"Wait, you don't just love her, you're in love with her." Deets concluded. "Burn don't worry I'm not going to blab your secret to the entire city, but Burn, you need to tell her, she deserves to know how you feel about her."

"Do you know what when through my mind when she went into that coma" Burn asked turning to Deets.

Deets shook her head.

"That Fizz could DIE never knowing how I felt about her. That I had hid my secret for so long I could very well have lost my chance to EVER tell her. It hurts to even think about that."

Deets watched as Burn once again turned away from her, she knew he was trying to hide his tears from her. This action didn't offend Deets she knew he didn't want to be seen crying, but this situation was hard on him.

"Burn, they say she's showing signs of waking up, I heard she could be awake as early as tomorrow." She said putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, but I still can't tell her how I feel, she won't be able to hear me," he sighed wearily.

"Then write it down for her, Burn, let her read the words she can't hear." Deets said giving his shoulder a squeeze.

"I wouldn't even know where to begin." Burn confessed wiping his eyes.

"Tell her what you just said to me, that you can't stand moving forward without letting her know how you feel, that you were afraid that you would lose the chance to ever say anything to her about how you feel." Deets said, "Burn she'll understand where you're coming from with this."

"How can I put myself out there like that?" he sighed.

"Burn, sometimes you have to let your defenses down, and this is one of those moments where you need to let them down and let her in so she can see exactly how much you love her."

Burn let out a sigh and wiped at his eyes no longer caring if this meant that Deets now realized he was in tears.

"What if she doesn't feel the same way about me, it could ruin our friendship." Burn sighed.

Deets pinched the bridge of her nose.

"She deserves the truth from you," Deets sighed; she was now officially getting annoyed with Burn.

"You are only going to torture yourself until you get this off your chest, Burn, and we both know it!" she pointed out.

Burn looked down, Deets was right; he was going to be torturing himself over this until he managed to let Fizz know the truth.

"Look, I'll leave you to chew on that for a little while, I'm going to go check on Fizz and see if she has woke up yet."

Deets flew away and Burn sighed looking at the ground in front of him. She was right; of course, he did need to tell Fizz exactly what she meant to him. He knew that he wouldn't have been able to live with himself had she died not knowing exactly what she meant to him, but he would wait until she could hear the words of love from him, not have to read them on a piece of paper and not get the depth of it through the inflection in his voice.

* * *

Jenny had settled and was once again sitting her vigil at her sister's bedside, her own boss had said nothing about her spending so much time at the hospital as he understood that this was her little sister and Jenny wanted to be there when Fizz woke to calm her down when she woke unable to hear.

Jenny was surprised when Fizz squeezed her hand but this time there was more, the young girl's eyes scrunched up for a second and then began to open.

* * *

Fizz could feel her senses coming back to her but it was strangely silent around her. She was sure she was in the hospital so why didn't she hear the steady beeping of the heart monitor or any other sound she normally associated with the hospital. She began to open her eyes and saw her older sister sitting at her bedside holding her hand

"Jenny" she tried to say, but she couldn't hear any sound come out. "Jenny."

* * *

Jennifer looked up at the sound of her name then went into action when she realized her sister was panicking.

"Fizz, calm down" she said then belatedly realized those words meant nothing as Fizz couldn't hear.

She embraced her sister tightly and let her begin to calm down it was hard for her to realize how scared her sister must be and know there was little she could do.

After a few minutes Fizz began to calm and try to rationally look at this situation. Jen settled down and began to write a little note to her sister.

"_I'm sorry, Fizz, you contracted Meningitis, and when we went to have tests ran to confirm that you had it, you had a seizure and fell into a coma, the infection then caused damage to the nerves in your ear causing what is going on now. You are deaf, but they are saying that cochlear implants will give you back your ability to hear._"

To be continued…


	6. Chapter 6

Fizz didn't want to believe what she had just read, she was deaf. Tears began to fall down her cheeks and soon she found herself being once again held by her sister.

Ol'Skool walked in and saw the sisters in an embrace and knew Fizz wasn't taking the discovery of her lack of hearing well. He sighed at least he could call the Dojo crew and tell them Fizz was awake, the worst was officially over where the Meningitis was concerned, now they needed to get the appointment for the implant surgery if that was what she wanted.

"Jennifer I need to speak with you." He said.

"What is it, Ol'Skool?" she asked. Fizz had fallen asleep in Jen's arms and Jen placed her gently back in bed, and covered her up.

"Do you think the implants are what Fizz really wants?"

Jenny nodded "She loves being a courier, being with the Dojo team just like I did back in the day. She needs those implants if she is going to remain a courier for Dojo, right?"

"Yeah, you're right" Ol'Skool sighed. He then looked in the hall to see a man approaching the room.

Jenny looked out to see what Ol'Skool was looking at.

"Scrap." She muttered.

"What's wrong, Jen?"

"He's not supposed to be here," she answered.

"Who is he, Jen?"

"Our dad" she spat.

"Why can't he be here?" Ol'Skool asked in confusion he had been under the impression that their father was a kindly volcanologist.

"He got drunk, broke my sister's arm and my nose." Jen replied a slight twinge of fear coloring her voice "as of that day he is not to be within a hundred meters of Fizz or me."

"Shut the door behind me I will take care of this." Ol'Skool said.

Jen did as instructed closing the door behind Ol'Skool, but only partially so, she wanted to hear what happened.

"Where is my daughter?" their father demanded.

"She tells me you aren't to be near them." Ol'Skool said.

"Fizz said that?"

"Her older sister said that, and by what she said there is a very good reason you shouldn't be near these girls."

"Jennifer always blows it out of proportion because that is what her mother does."

"Out of proportion, huh?" a nurse said "that's what you call a five year old with a broken arm that was obviously due to someone breaking it, or a ten year old with a broken nose that looked to be from a punch. I treated your little one that day, she didn't understand why her daddy hurt her, and I don't blame her mother for putting a restraining order on you."

"But my baby is sick" he said trying to play the part of a changed man but Ol'Skool could smell the alcohol on him.

"She's going to be fine, no thanks to you, now get out before I call the cops." Ol'Skool said. Jennifer had showed him that she carried a copy of the order that covered both her and Fizz.

Their father growled but left without incident as Burn approached.

"Ol'Skool, what was that all about?"

"That, Burn, was Fizz's father." Ol'Skool said.

"Why didn't he go in and see her?" Burn asked.

"He isn't supposed to be within 100 meters of her or her sister. Apparently he got drunk and hurt both girls a few years ago." Ol'Skool explained.

"What did he do?"

"Broke Jen's nose and Fizz's arm," Ol'Skool replied and watched as the fire grew in Burn's eyes. He knew that Burn loved Fizz dearly, just had yet to admit it to the young genius for various reasons. Burn was unaware that his boss knew how he felt about Fizz; at this point he thought Deets was the only one that knew how he truly felt about Fizz.

"How is she?"

"She came to about an hour ago, but didn't take the hearing loss well." Ol'Skool explained "She fell asleep a little while ago."

Jen came out; she knew her sister found Burn's presence as a source of comfort.

"Burn, I'm sure she'd like to see you." Jen said, "As Skool said she's asleep now but I don't know how long that will last, although before you go in there are some things you must understand, Fizz doesn't remember our biological father, our step father is the only father she has ever known very well and she seems to have forgotten our father breaking her arm and mom and I think it may be for the best she doesn't remember until she's older."

Burn passed the older courier placing a hand on her shoulder "She'll be okay." He said "I'll look out for her. Your father won't get near her as long as I'm around." He vowed the look in his eyes said he was dead serious "nobody's going to hurt her and get away with it, not on my watch"

"Thanks, Burn, I'm really glad she has you on her side through this."

"No problem, Rose." He said using her code name as she was using his. He went into the room with Fizz as Jen walked towards Ol'Skool who waved her to himself.

"He's in love with your sister" Skool whispered in Jen's ear "but don't worry, you know Brandon, he'll take good care of Felicia." (A/n: I don't know if I said this before but I picked the names Brandon and Felicia for Burn and Fizz respectively because I like those names and they sounded good for the characters.)

Jen looked at Ol'Skool in shock.

"He doesn't know that I know so just play you don't know if he tells you."

Jen started into the room.

"Jennifer, what did I just tell you?" Ol'Skool asked.

"He doesn't know we know"

"Exactly so let's not give him any reason to suspect we're on to him, he'll tell us and her in his own time."

Jen looked at the door to her sister's hospital room then turned to take a walk outside, she was to meet with a member of her own courier team out there so she could update the other girl on the situation. She got outside to see Helena, code name Thea, waiting patiently for her. Thea was older than Rose by a few years and had taken an older sister role in Jen's life when she joined Starlight Couriers.

To Be Continued…


	7. Chapter 7

"Rose, you look like you've got a lot on your mind." Thea said leaning against Jen's motorcycle.

"Thea, you have no idea." Jen replied. "I just found out Burn is in love with my sister?"

"Burn, didn't you work with him for a while?"

"Yeah, about 6 months to a year, we worked well together when we weren't at each other's throats." Jen shook her head. "Burn is a powerhouse in the courier field, really he is one of the best Dojo has ever had. He also has a really good heart and really wants what is best for his team; Fizz has always been special to him according to Ol'Skool."

"Yes she has." It was Ol'Skool.

"Rose, Thea, you don't know the relationship that developed between Burn and Fizz, he wasn't sure about having her around at first, he kept reminding me that she was very young, but even then I knew what I was doing." Ol'Skool explained "the team was going to need a good mechanic and she was perfect, very intelligent and capable of making things and thinking outside the box. She was young enough that she didn't see the limitations that her elder peers saw, all she saw was something that needed to be done and she could come up with ways to do them."

"What did this have to do with Burn?" Thea asked.

"Burn had already been a part of the team, had worked with Rose, or as she was known back then 'Gem'. From the moment Fizz joined Dojo Burn vowed to keep her safe from harm and to date Fizz has had no serious injuries" he chuckled "wish I could say the same for Burn."

"Broke his collarbone his first week at the Dojo." Jen said shaking her head.

"How did that happen?" Thea asked.

"He got body slammed by another courier and his drop got jacked." Ol'Skool sighed.

"He was furious when that happened." Jen said.

"I don't blame him." Thea replied, "I'd be pretty pissed too."

"Yeah but he wasn't the only one to be injured during the overlap time," Ol'Skool said "and if I remember correctly he got pretty fired up over that incident too."

"Do you mean my wrist or my ankle?"

"Neither of those; he wasn't there," Ol'Skool pointed out.

Jen gave him an odd look.

"The concussion," Ol'Skool said pointing to his head for emphasis.

"Snap how the heck did I forget that little adventure?" Jen said rather embarrassedly.

"Well you did have a concussion." Thea pointed out.

"Good point." Jen replied.

"Rose if I remember correctly you and Burn didn't part ways on the best of terms." Ol'Skool pointed out.

"No, we didn't, we had one of our typical explosions." Rose sighed "We were good together for a lot of reasons but one of our former teammates said it was like having a vat of reactive plasma in the dojo, one spark and watch the fireworks."

"Yeah but sometimes those fireworks were really useful, when I could get the two of you on the same page and working towards one goal all I had to do was point you in the right direction and get out of the way things would get done and done well." Ol'Skool laughed "but you boy could you two clash, that was another time I got out of your way."

"We typically worked it out on our own"

* * *

Meanwhile Fizz lay awake in her bed, she had faked going to sleep in hopes that her sister would leave her to cry alone, what she didn't realize was that Burn entered the room not too long after Jen left. She tried to hold the tears as long as possible to make sure her sister was out of the room before they fell but that didn't last.

* * *

Burn walked in and could see the glisten of tears on Fizz's face, he knew she wasn't asleep and wanted to help her through this, but he wasn't sure how to help her. He started to touch her but hesitated, he wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to comfort her, let her know she wasn't alone, but he wasn't sure how he could do that.

He sat in the chair Jen had vacated just moments before and watched Fizz silently, and listened to his own heart. He tried to interpret what he felt and what he was compelled to do and decided she needed him to be strong for her now more than she had ever needed him to be before. Back then she could stand strong on her own, but now she was scared to try, scared of what she couldn't hear around her she needed him and the rest of the Dojo crew to be her ears and keep her safe from the dangers she couldn't hear coming.

* * *

Fizz knew the touch of the hand on her arm; it was Burn, why did it have to be him? Why couldn't it have been Deets, or Ed, or anyone but him, her secret crush. She didn't respond, maybe he would go away if he thought she was asleep, but she knew she wouldn't be that lucky, he could tell she was faking.

She opened her eyes and looked at him and the expression on his face confused her, what was he thinking? What was going on behind those golden eyes?

Fizz sat up wiping her eyes trying her best to hide her tears but she could tell Burn knew she was crying.

"_Why are you trying to hide your tears?_" He wrote on the same piece of paper Jen had earlier.

"_I hate crying, it makes me look like a weak little kid_" she wrote back, Burn could see by the way she wrote it the way she felt about it but that didn't match the situation.

"_No, it doesn't, especially not right now_" was his reply. He knew how she felt but he also knew that as much as she hated to cry, and as much as he hated seeing her cry, she needed to in order to start the emotional healing process. Waking up without hearing had been a horrible experience for her and he knew she was bottling up her emotions when she really needed to be letting them out in order to heal the damage caused by the meningitis that no medication could.

He embraced her and at that moment she could hold the tears back no longer and fell apart in the safety of his arms.

To Be Continued…


	8. Chapter 8

A few days later Fizz was released to return to the Dojo, it would be nearly a week before the implant surgery came around and even longer before the implants went 'live' as it were and she could hear again.

Burn kept a close eye on Fizz he could tell she was really insecure about her lack of hearing even in the familiar confines of the Dojo. She couldn't hear what was going on around her and it was hard for him to watch her so insecure about her surroundings and know that his words of encouragement meant absolutely nothing to her as she couldn't hear them, but he learned early on that his touch did almost as much good for her.

"Burn I'm worried about Fizz, she seems so withdrawn since she woke up." Deets said.

"I know, Deets." Burn sighed turning from the computer, "I wish there was something I could do for her."

"We all do." Deets said leaning against the wall.

"Yeah I've never seen Fizz this way." Ed added as he joined the two older couriers.

"None of us have," Burn replied.

"Burn, you remember how Fizz was when she first got here, don't you?" Deets asked.

"How could I forget, she was rather shy but not as skittish as she is now, this hearing loss has taken a big toll on her." Burn sighed as he turned to Ed, one arm resting on the table the other on the back of his chair.

"I don't blame her, I can't imagine one day waking up in total silence." Ed pointed out.

"None of us can, this is a dramatic change for her; she has always been so independent." Deets sighed crossing her arms and looking to the celling. "I feel so bad for her, it's going to be a week until she has that surgery and even longer before she can actually hear again."

"Exactly" Ol'Skool said "that is why she needs the three of you to be there for her to turn to for support, especially Burn and Deets she looks at you special, Deets you have been a second older sister for her as she grew here at the Dojo and Burn she relies on your strength in ways I don't even think she realizes. She knows the two of you won't let her get hurt and now more than ever you need to reinforce that idea and let her know that she is safe in the Dojo able to hear or not."

Burn and Deets made eye contact; they knew that they were going to need to step up for Fizz now more than ever before and they were more than willing to step up to the plate for her.

Burn looked at the lab door and sighed "She hasn't set a foot in there since she got home." He sighed quietly, "She lived in there before."

"I've noticed that too," Ol'Skool sighed "I don't know why but maybe she'll confide in one of you."

"I'll…" Burn started.

"No, I'll go talk to her; I really haven't spent a lot of time with her since she lost her hearing." Deets cut in.

"True." Burn admitted as he noticed Loogie and Dr. Pinch arguing over who knew what. He realized by now that even Loogie realized how serious this situation was, even if Loogie didn't seem to react to the situation the way the rest did.

Loogie had tried to make Fizz smile but gave up once he realized his jokes weren't being heard therefore were just a waste of energy. The physical comedy had gotten a small smirk from the twelve year old but that was all that he accomplished.

* * *

Night fell on the Dojo and Fizz found herself feeling extremely uneasy about the situation, sure she knew she should be asleep but for some reason staying in her room by herself left her strangely uneasy. She left her room and walked to another door, then realized whose door she was at, it was Burn.

'What am I doing here?' she wondered to herself as she entered Burn's open door. Then she looked at him and something drew her to want to be near him, to feel his arms around her again. She sighed softly, how was she going to justify this to him? How was she going to explain what she was doing there? She didn't know all she knew was she was there. She looked down nervously trying to figure out what to say to him, unaware of what was going on above her.

* * *

Burn woke and heard something moving in his room, he wasn't sure what was going on or why there was an intruder in his room, but he was bound and determined to find out.

He turned over in bed and sat up to see Fizz standing in the middle of the floor looking down. He shook his head quietly; he should have known it was her especially after all she had gone through the past couple of weeks.

He got out of bed and approached Fizz, he felt he couldn't begin to understand what she was going through, but he would do his best to be there for her.

Fizz looked up as Burn reached out a hand for her, but instead of taking his hand she embraced him.

He returned it quite confused as to what was going on.

"I don't want to be alone." She said and his heart broke.

Burn embraced her tightly knowing that any words he said would be lost to her hearing loss. The embrace was the only way he could let her know he was there for her. A tear fell down his cheek as the helpless feeling hit him again, there was no way he could change her situation. He sat at the foot of the bed with her in his arms and soon she had fallen asleep there in his arms and he gave a sigh, wishing there was more he could do for her.

* * *

Ol'Skool had been confused when he discovered that Fizz's bedroom was empty. He continued walking and noticed that all doors were closed except Burn's which stood wide open. He had learned early on that it was typical for Burn to sleep with his door open in case his younger teammates should need him during the night which was extremely rare, but not unheard of.

He looked into Burn's room to see Burn on the floor cradling Fizz in his arms. The look in Burn's eyes spoke volumes of how Burn felt.

"Why is she here?" he asked

"She came to me, said she didn't want to be alone, Skool, I wasn't going to push her away after that." Burn said.

"I wouldn't have expected you to, but why don't you get comfortable?" Ol'Skool suggested looking at Burn's bed as if trying to give a hint to the team captain and it seemed Burn got the idea.

"You mean…?"

"Burn I know you well enough to know I can trust you to take care of her in her time of need." Ol'Skool said as he took Fizz from Burn's arms so he could stand.

"Yeah, I'll keep her safe." Burn replied as he stood to his feet then took Fizz back into his arms. He looked at her face and sighed she would deny it but to him she was beautiful.

"You really care about her, don't you, Burn?" Ol'Skool asked.

Burn nodded and went to place her in his bed; he'd keep her safe as long as she needed him to be there for her.

Ol'Skool left the room as Burn joined her in bed, he was confident that this was the right choice to make. Fizz obviously felt comfortable in Burn's arms and this would give Burn a way to help Fizz though the healing process.

Burn lay in bed with his arms around Fizz, and sighed wishing there was more he could do for her.

He was slightly surprised as she rolled over and snuggled into him but then relaxed and soon fell asleep as well. He knew the next morning would be a big deal for all of them. They were getting a tutor to teach them sign language as a way for Fizz to communicate without the implants.

To Be Continued…


	9. Chapter 9

Fizz woke the next morning and realized she was being held and for a brief moment wondered what had happened. Then she remembered going to Burn's room around eleven that night looking for some way to get out of being alone in her room. He of course welcomed her into his arms. She had fallen asleep from there. She didn't move and tried to go back to sleep, she had a feeling it would be another few hours before either of them were really expected to be awake; which was actually the case. It was two thirty in the morning. She rolled over so her back was to him and soon went back to sleep.

Burn woke with Fizz's movement and he wondered if she woke up or was just moving in her sleep. He repositioned himself so he was closer to her and also went back to sleep. They weren't required to be awake for several hours so he would just rest for now and continue to hold Fizz in his arms. He hadn't told her that he loved her yet but this was one way he could show her that he did care was by stepping up to be there when she came to him in need.

Ol'Skool checked on them at about 4 am and smiled when he noticed Burn was still holding Fizz in his arms. He knew he had made the right choice in letting them lay together for the night. Fizz would eventually have to find her feet and be independent again but he figured that could wait until she was either a bit more comfortable without her hearing or got the implants, whichever came first.

* * *

A week passed and the day of the surgery came faster than any of them had anticipated. Fizz groaned as she fell back into her chair, she hadn't been able to eat anything that morning and her stomach was protesting loudly according to those around her.

The rest of the Dojo had been very understanding of her pre-surgery fasting and had so far not eaten anything in front of her and she had been extremely thankful to them for that as it made this whole process a bit easier on her. She felt a hand on her back; it was Burn saying hi as he passed to go get ready to leave for the hospital. He had been so supportive through this process of recovering from the meningitis and prep for the surgery. She had also noticed that Deets had stepped up to be there for her more along with Ed and even Loogie had pitched in to help where he could. Loogie seemed to bundle things a lot, but she had to give him points for trying at least.

Rose was also spending more time around the Dojo and had at least one minor squabble with Burn but they managed to settle it in the sparing ring as was typical with the two of them.

They had gotten a set of devices that allowed for texting between the others and her to make communication easier between the hearing couriers and her. She already knew that she was once again riding with Burn, although she barely remembered the first time she rode with him as her fever was so high she was practically delirious. On the way back to the Dojo she had rode with her sister, Rose, and would ride with her again if her sister could have pulled away from her duties at Starlight Couriers long enough to take her there. Unfortunately Starlight Couriers was short-handed for a drop due to two of their main couriers coming down with food poisoning. Rose had cursed her bad luck on not being able to see her sister to the hospital, but her crew had promised her, come hell or high water she would be there to either see her sister into the operating room or out or preferably see her both ways.

The text device vibrated and Fizz pulled it out.

"_It's time to go. Power up and meet me at the door, -Burn_"

She sighed

"_On my way_" she replied

"_Okay_" he replied

She powered up and headed towards the door. She got there and noticed the others were already powered up, Ol'Skool included. Part of her wished she could ride on her sled she missed the independence of being able to ride her own vehicle, but at the same time she didn't mind riding with Burn. His vehicle rode so differently from her sled and thus was a welcome change of pace for her.

She waited until he got on the bike and then joined him with a little help. She knew riding with him and depending on him to keep her safe was one thing she could really count on in her life at the Dojo. He had kept her safe from the moment she had walked through the doors of the Dojo, even though he had originally protested that she was too young for the courier business. After he got to know her he seemed to have come to the conclusion that his early assumptions about her were wrong, but he still protected her.

They started out and were soon on their way towards the hospital where she would have her surgery. She already knew she would have to stay overnight and wouldn't get the processors and have the implants go live for several weeks after surgery

* * *

"The Dojo is on the move again, but for the first time since their run to the hospital all of the Dojo is on the street, but Fizz is still bumming a ride. Could there be more going on that the Dojo isn't making public knowledge?" DJ Dive wondered "This DJ can only speculate what has the youngest of the Dojo off her ride."

The ride to the hospital was mercifully short for all involved. Ol'Skool looked at Fizz as they entered the hospital, she seemed uneasy and walked closer to Burn than was ever the norm in the past.

Burn too acknowledged Fizz's presence really close to him by giving her shoulder a comforting squeeze.

She looked at him with a nervous smile. At first communication with her required the text devices that they all now carried but as time progressed she learned some basic sign language but her sign vocabulary and theirs wasn't that great, on the other hand she had picked up lip reading extremely quickly.

"It's going to be okay." Burn told her.

She nodded but he could tell it didn't help her nerves to hear him say that.

"You know I'd never lie to you." He reminded her.

"I know, Burn, it… I'm just scared."

Burn stopped her and came down to her level to talk to her.

"Don't worry about this, everything will go fine, we're all here for you, Fizz. I know this is scary but you don't need to be afraid, you're in good hands." Burn hugged her gently and could tell she was calming down.

They soon continued walking to the waiting area, it wouldn't be long now.

**To Be Continued…**


End file.
